Volvo Buses and Heliox have inaugurated a charging station for electric busses based on the common OppCharge interface. With OppCharge, electrified busses and charging stations from different manufacturers can be used together. The aim is to facilitate the introduction of electric bus systems in cities the world over.
Together with Heliox, Volvo Buses have inaugurated a charging station for electric busses based on the common OppCharge interface. This is Heliox’s 20th charging station for electric busses in Scandinavia.
Located at the Volvo Group R&D premises in Gothenburg, the installation is a joint reference project between Volvo Buses and Heliox. The aim of this cooperative venture is to cooperate on the development and commercialization of electric busses and electric hybrid busses equipped with systems for DC opportunity charging using open standards. Demonstrations of busses and charging stations both as products and systems offer a clear picture of what installation at the customer’s premises looks like.
With the new charging station, Volvo is demonstrating that the company’s electric busses are compatible with chargers from several different manufacturers. OppCharge is now being implemented as a common interface in more than 12 countries. Heliox charging systems can currently charge up to 450kW and in the nearby future, it will be possible to charge 600kW.
“We are happy to work together with Heliox inaugurating yet another charging station based on the open interface for opportunity charging, OppCharge. With OppCharge the world’s cities can rest assured that electric busses and charging infrastructure from different manufacturers are compatible with one another and that there is no risk of being restricted to specific manufacturers. This creates the right preconditions for an accelerated transition to electric bus systems in cities all over the world,” said Jessica Sandström, Senior Vice President City Mobility, Volvo Buses.
The commissioning of the charging system at Volvo premises marks Heliox the start of cooperation between Volvo and Heliox. The cooperation is already about to be proven in a reality where the first customer receives its electric busses and chargers in Luxembourg in May this year.
“High-quality chargers with a high capacity and efficiency is the solid base for an electric mobile future and the vision of Heliox automotive”, said Bob Bouhuijs. “In the future, Heliox will work closely with bus OEMs like Volvo to globally spread this vision and to contribute to sustainable and cost-effective transport solutions.”
Volvo Buses is the market leader in electromobility and has delivered more than 3200 hybrids, electric hybrids, and electric busses to 21 countries globally.
Heliox is the global market leader in fast charge systems within public transport, mining, and port equipment. Heliox operates on a global level with headquarters in The Netherlands and local offices in the UK, Australia, Singapore & India.
OppCharge
- The common interface between charging station and vehicles, based on the car industry CCS standard
- Charging power 150, 300, or 450 kW.
- The pantograph attached to the pylon makes it possible to use a cost-effective solution that adds little weight to the bus roof.
- Conductive charging using current collectors, with communication between the bus
and charging station via Wi-Fi. - Among the manufacturers supporting OppCharge are charging infrastructure providers
ABB, Heliox and Siemens, and bus manufacturers Ebusco, Iveco, Solaris, and Volvo.
